


Play Seriously

by DoubtingRabbit, Lenticular



Series: Tenzin's Affair 'verse [6]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Bending (Avatar), M/M, Shower Sex, Sparring, Sparring as foreplay, magic sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 03:08:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30015216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubtingRabbit/pseuds/DoubtingRabbit, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenticular/pseuds/Lenticular
Summary: "Turn your sparring into play - but always play seriously."- Bruce Lee
Relationships: Tarrlok/Tenzin (Avatar)
Series: Tenzin's Affair 'verse [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869313
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

The retreat's training ground was as tight as it was spotless.

The large indoor-outdoor room was lit by a rim of fire flickering along the walls, just bright enough to drown out the cold light of the full moon. Its atmosphere, instructed by Earth Kingdom design principles, was low and wide in the architecture and heavy lines, and warm gradations of brown to black to gray. Each element was represented by a section of the arena. A loop of wall opened to the east and the cherry tree grove beyond, a shallows to the west with wide pools, the earth curved up in outcroppings in the south, and a series of lamps staggered across the northern wall that remained unlit.

Very well-kept. Which was likely because people came to use the hot springs, not to do their katas. But it suited Tarrlok just fine; both the cleanliness and having the place to himself. 

Which was, of course, why Tarrlok was here, long after everyone had gone to bed, going through his stances, molding water into intricate shapes around him as he turned.

_ nightmares of snow and ice and his blood freezing in _

The light of the full moon shone into his eyes and kept him from sleep. Might as well keep his bending sharp.

He drew another stream of water from one of the recessed pools at the corners of the gym, pulling it into a tight spiral around him as it foamed at the sudden speed--

_ "good against nonbenders," said the nightmare in his head _

\--then jabbed his palm out, and the water became a swarm of needles, a deadly mist shooting into the wall--

_ "it won't kill, but it will blind and maim and hurt," said the monsters of his memories _

Tarrlok dropped his hands and stared at the glittering shards embedded in the wall. Then he sighed and called them back, before they melted and ruined the intricate reed mats, bending the water into a Moon Mirror with little thought.

And from the shadows came an impressed round of applause. Tenzin stepped into the wan light of the courtyard and said, "Very refined application of Needle at the Bottom of the Sea."

Tarrlok almost dropped the Moon Mirror, the disc of water wobbling for a moment before he caught control of it. He spun to shoot Tenzin an irritated look to cover his surprise.

"It's bad form to startle someone during practice," he informed his lover. "If I'd been doing an ice scythe form, I could've hurt you." --wait, how did Tenzin even know the name of an obscure waterbending technique?

Tarrlok shook it off and let the water flow back into one of the pools, then demanded, "What are you doing up this late?”

"Listening for you to get back to your room," Tenzin said, maybe too honest for his own good. He joined Tarrlok in the ring. "But I'm not worried about you hurting me. In fact, you look to be in need of a better sparring partner than a reed mat." He shed his outer robe and blew it across a cherry tree-branch that overhung the edge of the eastern wall. "I can be that."

"Well, that's all very flattering, but I--" was as far as Tarrlok got before turning to get a good look at Tenzin. He'd known the airbender was built, of course; they'd been fucking for years. But seeing it in the low, flickering firelight made his mouth go kind of dry.

He cleared his throat and started again. "I suppose. If you insist. Don't you need to do stretches first at your age?"

Tenzin ignored the sarcasm and gave a bow to his partner. He shrugged out of his tunic, rolled it to his waist, and tucked up the hem a little tighter. He began on a series of deep breaths that filled his chest and chi right down to his fingertips, and then ran back out of his nose, and then again. Then, as he limbered up his muscles and warmed his tendons, he reviewed his opponent in his mind's eye: a formidable waterbender with a strict Northern tradition in his practice--sharp and hard. Still waters wouldn't be pierced by a direct blast, Tenzin knew, but he could come in more gently, at an angle, and do more damage.

Stretching out his arms and drawing them around in a softer style than his father's strict stance, slower and with a more delicate wrist, and putting a crouch to his knees, Tenzin nodded to Tarrlok in invitation.

"Whenever you're ready, Sifu Tarrlok."

"Oh, show-off," Tarrlok muttered, but he couldn't help the small smile spreading across his face. Part of it was anticipation; he hadn't had a good fight in years. And part of it was-- softer than he was comfortable considering. Perhaps he was a little too taken with the slow, leisurely shifting of Tenzin's muscles as he'd warmed up.

He took a deep breath and took his stance, letting the thrum of the hateful full moon reverberate through his body, the gentle ripple of the four pools around them tingle in his fingers. Tarrlok worked quick, two whips of water lashing up, sparkling in the dim light, and flying at Tenzin. 

Tenzin could see the chi, the intent of the attack telegraphed in Tarrlok's stance, and the way the humidity caught in the air he could feel all around him, even if he couldn't control the other element. He could see echoes of his great-grandfather's Northern teachings (which Kya complained about rehearsing until Tenzin practiced the forms with her); his mother's morning bending meditations that he'd begun joining in when he realized he was an early-riser; the way that his father casually bent the air around him, like it was a gel rather than a gas. With all the experience he held, it was a simple enough attack to dodge without even using his bending.

"Beautiful," he said, and meant it, dropping down and drawing in a deep breath. "My turn."

Tarrlok felt pleasure at Tenzin's acknowledgement, but it mixed with confusion at how he dodged the whips mixed with frustration at his breaking of them. He tracked the airbender as Tenzin's crossteps wound around him, keeping to the outside of the ring. Tenzin went from mutable movement as he sent sharp and angular jabs, air exploding into the hovering whips, splattering them into tear-sized droplets in the air and shorn away by the wind.

Tarrlok knew better than to hesitate. As soon as the first gust of wind hit his water, he spun in a tight circle, drawing his chi tight, and with a fierce jab of his hand turned every drop hard and cold, pelting at Tenzin and the area around him.

"Dodge that," Tarrlok muttered under his breath, but the slush was stopped in its tracks by a short blast of air from the punctuation of an elbow strike that put up a reverberating shield of air before Tenzin.

His attack jolted the chi from Tarrlok's grasp long enough for Tenzin to pull back into his next stance, footwork crossing left-over-right as he circled his lover and looked for an opening.

Tarrlok wrinkled his nose, pouting in irritation without realising it. He fell back into a defensive stance, tracking Tenzin's movements around him, wracking his brain for what he knew of airbending. Defensive, centered on avoidance the same way waterbending centered on flow.

It was just hard to concentrate when Tenzin was moving like a gliding raptor against the night sky, rippling and shifting in the low light.

"Well? Am I supposed to do all the work here?"

"Bend smarter, not harder," Tenzin replied with a tap to his temple. He then faked a roll to the left before coming up from underneath Tarrlok, wrapping a forearm beneath his torso to catch him before he could fall.

With a tap between Tarrlok's shoulders with the heel of his palm, not without bending the air beneath it, he stepped back and claimed his victory.

Tarrlok froze, his mouth dropping in indignation as he stared at the now-empty space in front of him. He hadn't lost a duel since he had started at university!

Of course, his common sense reminded him, he also had never trained to fight an airbender.

(And a different part of him was very aware of Tenzin pressed up tight behind him with only Tarrlok's thin silk tunic between them.)

"Alright," he said while begrudgingly dropping his hands. "Again."

Tenzin dropped back to circle around him again. Tarrlok moved to follow, the both of them evaluating. Tenzin was very aware of the danger he was in. He knew how unpredictable, how vindictive, waterbenders could be when they felt slighted. Tarrlok in particular took his losses to heart. He studied the poses of the waterbender's slender hands as they shifted and rolled in lazy circles. The room filled with a thick, cold mist, hovering up to the waist. 

If Tenzin insisted on moving so damn fast, Tarrlok at least wanted the advance warning that would give him.

Leaping up on a disc of air was an automatic tactic to counter how Kya used to track him, though she'd long ago learned to hang a fog in the air above him. Bringing up his knee in a spin, he cleared the looming gray mist as he came down. And, credit to copying Lin's practiced stamp, he summoned a wavering blast of air at ankle-height to push Tarrlok back two feet.

Tarrlok bit back a startled noise, catching his balance. His slighted ego flared in blue-white. He'd not yet regained his stance when he swept up his hands. The mist surged back in, coalescing on Tenzin in a thin, cold layer of ice.

Tenzin was impressed, sure, but not enough to break his stride; he hadn't had access to a decent sparring partner in a long time. The blessing of sparring with a waterbender, one whose quirks he knew well, experienced in moments of contention and intimacy… it put him at ease. More than that, he found he was enjoying himself. A vibration at a specific frequency shattered the ice locked around him, and a stamp of his foot freed the rest of his clothes from the frost that clung to them.

Tenzin tumbled forward, rushing up to deliver a flick to Tarrlok's forehead as a puff of air, taunting but harmless, hit him in the stomach. Tenzin floated a step back out of Tarrlok's reach.

He asked, "Again?"

The absolute  _ nerve _ \-- Tarrlok was too aware that he was flushed and pouting, but he nodded and stepped back, dropping back into a stance. If nothing else, he decided, he was going to at least wipe that smirk off Tenzin's face.

(And maybe, he hoped deep down where he'd never admit it, impress him.)

Tarrlok took a deep breath and did what he'd always tried to avoid. Until he'd entered university, Tarrlok had thought himself a mediocre waterbender at best, blessed with a memory for techniques and a minimum of chi. Only when his sparring partners hadn't been Noa-- hadn't been so magnificently gifted as his family did he realise just how much chi he had to channel, and just how unusual that had been, and he had done what he always did when he stood out; he hid.

Now, however, his temper piqued, he brought his arms up, and the water from the four pools roared to his command, swirling around him like a cyclone, a shield. And with little hesitation, he lashed out, sending whip after relentless whip of foaming, icy water at the airbender.

Exactly what Tenzin had hoped. Waterbending, in the hands of a master, was an overwhelming wall of power, endless and cycling and a never ending source of chi to draw from; but it was nothing that had ever frightened him. After all, airbending was the power of the spaces between, and even the ocean was full of little bubbles.

Tenzin's toes found purchase in the froth at the end of the water lashes and he climbed the miniature cyclone to the top. As he cartwheeled behind Tarrlok, he gave a cheeky tug to the middle braid.

Oh, absolutely not. Tarrlok jabbed his elbow back and slammed a whip of water square into Tenzin's (bare, toned) stomach. Technically cheating, given that Tenzin had already won the match, but he was in a foul enough temper not to care.

Tenzin took the surprise hit with a rush of air and an, "Oof!" before a lifetime of daily meditation and training kicked in. Even as he bent over the hit, he took Tarrlok's elbow, linked it in his own, and pulled the waterbender into a spin that took balance into Tenzin's hands--he chose to use the momentum to flip Tarrlok onto his back. He struck the cushioning cork-sand of the practice room floor with a thud.

"Ah!" the waterbender huffed as the world spun madly around him, and the water fell to the floor with a splash.

Tenzin threw a long leg over Tarrlok's waist and pinned his shoulders back with flat palms. He was still catching his breath, but there was a gleam in his eye when he asked, "Again? or not, Sifu-Councilman?"

Tarrlok blinked up at him, taking a moment to understand the situation--

The situation being, of course, a damp, bare-chested Tenzin, breathing hard and looking entirely too enticing, pinning Tarrlok down, and if he hadn't already been resentfully aroused, that alone would have done it.

\--before pouting at him. "You were using waterbending techniques, Tenzin. That's dirty fighting."

"Not my fault you didn't grow up surrounded by airbenders," Tenzin replied with a laugh, leaning in to kiss away Tarrlok's sullen look. It earned him a tart bite to his lower lip at first, but eventually it worked, and Tarrlok melted into the kiss, a slender hand coming up to dally over Tenzin's bicep.

Yes, Tenzin was extremely aware of the possibility that he was being lured into a false sense of security, but the heat of Tarrlok's breath on his lips and the incredibly sensual fingertips running up the stream of his tattoo and into ticklish territory made him drop his guard. A laugh through his teeth and Tenzin delved deeper, taking back from his lungs the breath that Tarrlok had just stolen from him.

Tarrlok's hand tightened on Tenzin's arm, and he made a soft noise, just between a sigh and a moan, around the tip of Tenzin's tongue.

And with his other hand, he promptly called forth a surge of water, knocking Tenzin to the floor and freezing him in place before bouncing jauntily to his feet. "Again."

He'd never liked being locked in place, but neither had Kya, and Tenzin used his decades' worth of experience to bring a blast up low across the sand, cutting through the loose grains so that it nearly looked like earthbending, and having the same effect of knocking Tarrlok off his feet. Even if he was still encased in ice--sharp tingle against his skin, like Tarrlok's fingertips and Tarrlok's kisses--he considered it a victory even if it didn't qualify.

Tarrlok twisted as he landed, catching himself enough to send a petulant mist of rime frost in Tenzin's face, covering his beard in ice. Still, Tarrlok's attempt to fight back a smile was failing, and it tugged stubbornly at the corners of his mouth, especially at the sight of Tenzin awkwardly frozen to the ground with his beard white and crisp.

Looking down at the mess they'd made, Tenzin couldn't help a bit of a laugh himself.

"You're very good," he said, then gestured at his waist. "A little petty, maybe. But excellent."

"If you cheat, I cheat," said Tarrlok, paragon of virtue and fair play. He clenched his hand, and the ice melted away, soaking Tenzin's pants right through.

"Who's cheating?!" asked Tenzin, the pique showing in the reddening of his ears even as he automatically blew the moisture out of his clothing.

"Well, not me," Tarrlok said, completely failing to hold back his smirk at last, and he pinched his fingers together. The layer of frost on Tenzin's face melted too.

"And just where did I cheat?" Tenzin crossed the circle to pull down his robe and drape it over his shoulders while he caught his breath. "Taking advantage of your wandering eyes doesn't count, you know."

Tarrlok huffed in disappointment, if not a little embarrassment, and rolled fluidly to his feet, shifting his shoulders at the way his tunic stuck to his back. "Oh, is that why you felt the need to get half naked? I'd assumed it was vanity."

"It's not often I have someone to show off for," Tenzin admitted, leaving the collar open to let the evening air cool him. And, to test his theory, he leaned long and lithe against the reed mat.

Tarrlok looked at him sidelong, and he was so used to Tenzin awkward, Tenzin unsure of where to put his body, that the sight of the airbender at ease and gorgeous nearly stopped him cod.

But Tarrlok didn't make a habit of being speechless (though if anyone could succeed in making him so...), and he said, "Ah, so we come to your ego at last. Dashing my hope that you were trying to seduce me into bed.”

"Can't both be true?" Tenzin asked, pushing away from the wall.

Tarrlok almost laughed before he caught himself. "Well," he said, "it'll have to wait. I need a shower after all of that."

"Me, too," agreed Tenzin. "A hot one."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And then, the shower.

In the end, it was easier for them to share one of the luxurious shower stalls - more like a small room, really - than to occupy two for no reason.

In the end, it was simpler for them to shower at the same time, and there was plenty of space in the wide ring of falling water.

In the end, they didn't take up much space at all, and Tarrlok wasn't sure what he was most focused on; the heat of Tenzin's lips, the carved angles of his torso beneath Tarrlok's fingers or the heavy press of his cock against Tarrlok's thigh.

Meanwhile, Tenzin's focus was crystal clear. He was only interested in touching every square inch of Tarrlok's skin, slick and velvet, under the constant flow of the water. Long, thin fingers stroked lazily up the back of his thighs, the firm curve of his ass, and the taste on his tongue as he probed Tarrlok's mouth beneath the stream, having only recently moved from counting each rib and every vertebrae.

Tarrlok made a rough noise, muffled around Tenzin's lower lip, his hands trailing the curve of his pecs, playing over the soft brown of his nipples. He broke the kiss with a lick to the corner of Tenzin's mouth and managed a breathless, "Okay, so... I'm gonna need you to fuck me."

"Need it, huh?" Tenzin asked. His tone was taunting, but how he ran the pad of his thumb over the ready, willing and throbbing heat of Tarrlok's hole, pushed past what little resistance he offered without any more questioning, made it plain that he needed it, too.

Tarrlok's fingers dug into the hard flesh of Tenzin's stomach, manicured nails leaving little half-moons in his skin.

"You don't get to put on a display like that," said Tarrlok, his voice wobbling, "and then not back it up."

"Wouldn't dare," Tenzin said and held open Tarrlok's ass as he pushed past the first knuckle of thumb and into slick, soft heat, let the water run directly over needy flesh.

Tarrlok's breath caught sharply, and pressed into another kiss, hips rolling back as he fucked himself on Tenzin's entirely-inadequate finger. It wasn't all Tenzin had planned for him, and he struggled to regain a little control so that he could push his other thumb in as well to prize Tarrlok wider. The waterbender made a choked noise.

Drawing back again, Tarrlok was a sight; his pale eyes closed tight, his mouth agape as he felt himself open, his face flushed and lips bruised. "Lube," he finally managed.

In most other circumstances, Tenzin would have laughed to see Tarrlok at a loss for words, but as it was, that burning tightness in the pit of his stomach made him moan. Dropping to his knees, he collected the bottle of serum from Tarrlok's effects near the door by touch alone. The majority of his focus was on throwing Tarrlok's thick and trembling thigh over his shoulder so that he could lathe his tongue over his hole as he poured a healthy dollop of the lavender-aloe oil across his fingers.

Tarrlok made a startled noise, but also didn't fight it, slumping back against the gold-flecked tile of the wall. He tightened his leg against Tenzin's back, hands cradling the back of the airbender's head as if that could get him to move faster, or press his tongue closer, instead of just eliciting a moan from him.

It was the most that Tenzin allowed for him to break his focus; he bit and kissed against his thigh, beard tickling against his skin caught in the streams of water flowing down Tarrlok's body. Then he pressed two oil-sleek fingers into his ass to the bottom knuckle and curled them forward sharply. 

"Ah!" Tarrlok rocked forward, his cock twitching against Tenzin's ear, his fingers digging into the shaved skin of Tenzin's head. "There, right there...!"

Tenzin clearly didn't need to be told. He sucked at the other man's skin and all-out drummed his fingertips against his prostate. Then, drawing back to admire the navy-blue bruise forming beneath warm brown skin, he said, conversationally, "When you come, Tarrlok, I want it to be in my mouth."

Tarrlok tried to answer, but all that came out was a choked whimper. He swallowed hard, rocking onto Tenzin's fingers, and tried again. "Yeah, that-- okay. Can you-- Tenzin,  _ please _ \--"

Which conjured Tenzin's tongue up in a long, slow sweep over his sac. It dragged, hotter and wetter than the water that cascaded down around it, up the underside of his cock and then, his bottom lip caught on the rim of Tarrlok's twitching glans before he sunk down around the whole of his crown and suckled… and Tenzin's two fingers not stopping their slick manipulation of the swollen spot within him.

_ I should never have taught him to suck dick, _ thought the ever-present, cynical voice at the back of Tarrlok's head. He tightened his hold on Tenzin's head, riding his fingers, rocking into his mouth. Tarrlok let his head drop back with a muffled thunk against the tile, finding a sweet, rolling rhythm.

Tenzin matched it, unflagging, blue-gray eyes keen to catch every expression on Tarrlok's face as he sucked at his cock, kneading the shaft with the blade of his tongue and flicking at the base with the tip. All the while, he flicked his wrist, two digits undulating against Tarrlok's prostate as if he could feel the chi crackle, trace it with his fingertips.

Tarrlok's panting turned shrill for a few embarrassing moments before he got his breathing back under control. Each stroke of Tenzin's fingers hit him like an unfulfilled promise, each warm suck of his lips was like a building release, and Tarrlok could barely focus on staying upright for either.

"More," he gasped, tightening around Tenzin's fingers.

He pulled his mouth from Tarrlok's cock with a sopping-wet  _ pop! _ , said, "Oh, much more," and then, too transfixed by the vision Tarrlok made under the water to give more detail, he dropped his jaw and stretched out his tongue as he pounded out a relentless rhythm with his fingertips to catch the clear beads the dripped from the tip of his cock.

"You fucking tease!" Tarrlok moaned, his back curving away from the wall in a languid arch, his hips jolting to meet each precise strike of Tenzin's fingers. His hands tightened on the back of the airbender's head, trying to pull him closer.

"Come, come," Tenzin urged, and would be embarrassed about the wantonness in both his tone and actions at a later time, when his own cock wasn't throbbingly, painfully hard. "I want to taste you on my tongue while I fuck you," Tenzin continued, lips smeared against Tarrlok's cockhead and voice barely audible, "Come for me."

Tarrlok's breath caught, hard and desperate, and he jerked forward, pressing into Tenzin's mouth as he obliged. His body tensed as he came, spurting across Tenzin's tongue in time with the sharp jolts of his hips. Tenzin rolled the first load across his tongue and stood, replacing his fingers with his hot, hard cock, not leaving Tarrlok unfilled as he came.

"Oh, fuck," Tarrlok hissed, breathless, and slumped back against the wall, his fingers digging marks into the back of Tenzin's neck. The shift from Tenzin's fingers to Tenzin's dick as he was barely over his orgasm was sudden enough, stretched him far enough, that he felt light-headed. "Oh, fuck, Tenzin, yes..."

A growl through Tenzin's gritted teeth, and he knew the only reason that he could keep from kissing Tarrlok--sharing the taste of hot saltwater on his tongue--was to hear him babble in the throes of the afterglow. His hips pistoned like they were on greased rails, the precision of each thrust into his lover was profound in depth and effect, pushing a gasped whimper from Tarrlok every time he struck deep.

The waterbender finally focused, spent and wanton, his eyes dark and mouth slack, his wet and loose hair tumbling half over his face. Bracing his shoulders back against the tile, he tightened his leg around Tenzin's hip, rocking up into each thrust. His hands slid over Tenzin's shoulders, his arms, his chest, marking each curve and muscle. "Like that, yes, please, Tenzin, fuck me just like that...!”

Tenzin lifted both of Tarrlok's feet from the ground and redoubled his efforts as he pounded him rhythmically against the wall. He probably could have gone on for hours that way, listening to the slap-splatter-slap echoing in the stall and wondering how a body so hard and carved of ice on the outside could be so soft, inviting and hot on the inside, but for how Tarrlok looked when debauched.

"I'm going to come if you don't stop me," he growled next to Tarrlok's ear, bit at the lobe.

Tarrlok's whipcorded arms wound around Tenzin's shoulders, keeping him close. "Wh-- who says I wanted to stop you?" Tarrlok demanded, low and raw. He licked a trickle of water from Tenzin's cheek, above the line of his beard, and one hand drew a gentle circle in the air.

The water answered, a slick stream taking shape and winding its way up the tense muscles of Tenzin's thigh.

His hips faltered, paused, and Tenzin moaned low.

"Well, don't stop now," Tarrlok purred in his ear, and the water pushed between Tenzin's legs, sliding slick and undulating into his ass.

Tenzin whimpered, his hips kicking back into gear, but this time with much less control. The pacing was still there, but the hitch of his breath, the shiver through his spine as he struck hilt-deep, the wordless moans--all showed he was at the end of his control.

And for each thrust, he was rewarded with a pulse, the water bulging as if waves ran along the tendril's length. Pressing inside Tenzin, pushing against his prostate.

Tarrlok buried his mouth against Tenzin's neck and moaned, his free hand digging into the tight muscles of the airbender's back. "That's good," he breathed against wet skin. "That's-- you can do it if you want, Tenzin. You can come in my ass."

"Oh," Tenzin said, voice as firm and certain as his breathing was ragged, "I'm  _ going  _ to."

His toes curled into the wet stone floor reflexively as he buried his cock to the root and pounded the last four or five thrusts of his climax into Tarrlok without drawing out.

Tarrlok's breath hitched, and became a soft laugh at the corner of Tenzin's jaw. The water did not relent, still swelling inside Tenzin, still pushing mercilessly against his prostate. And Tenzin's moaning became rawer the longer Tarrlok drew out the stimulation, his nails scrabbling at the wet well behind them both as his hips jerked into his lover's body with no control.

Tarrlok slumped back against the wall again to watch his lover, his thighs clenched tight over Tenzin's hips. He rode the thrusts easily, fluidly, his hand rolling at the wrist as he continued the onslaught.

"You are," he panted, "so sexy."

"F-fuck," was all Tenzin could think to say in reply, mind swimming. Even as he pulled free of Tarrlok's body, his thighs were still quaking and his cock was still twitching; his whole body was alight from orgasm, still thrumming with Tarrlok's control. Finally, his knees gave out as he watched a dribble of his own cum blend with the water still running over their bodies, and he slumped against Tarrlok's shoulder as he caught his breath.

It got him a startled laugh, and Tarrlok loosened his legs around Tenzin's waist, flopping to sit on the floor. And, in an act of mercy, he released his hold on the water, letting it flow away. "Language, Councilman."

Tenzin gave nothing more than a choked noise in response.

Tarrlok reached out and rubbed soothing circles on Tenzin's clenched shoulders. With a mental start, he realised that the relentless thrumming of the full moon had receded and become unimportant, replaced instead with a lazy pleasure and a soft feeling he didn't dare examine too closely. His lover only enjoyed the moment, hands lingering gently over Tarrlok's skin as he regained himself.

"Tarrlok," Tenzin finally said, giving a smile as he lifted his head to take a shaky kiss from him, "you'll be the death of me." 

Tarrlok's fingers froze for a moment, the space of a heartbeat, and he drew his head back sharply. Then, in an instant, he smiled - politely, evenly - and patted Tenzin's shoulder. "I think it's bedtime, don't you?" he said, voice light, and disentangled himself from Tenzin's hold, pushing to his feet.

Tenzin looked up and blinked. He was dazed, sure, but not so much as to be unaware of the distance placed between them, especially in contrast with the incredible intimacy the evening had provided. After a mental upbraiding of himself, he nodded and stood as well to rinse off.

Tarrlok, already rinsed and out from under the spray, bent most of the water out of his hair, letting it drip to the floor. He grabbed one of the dyed cotton robes so generously provided by the resort, and pulled his hair over his shoulder, braiding it loosely.

At no point did he turn to look at Tenzin.

"Sleep well," Tenzin called, before Tarrlok could leave the showers, and immediately followed it with a cringe knowing there'd be no answer, simply the soft  _ chuff! _ of the door as Tarrlok left.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to NothingEnough for the beta.


End file.
